Traditional nail polish products contain a large amount of cellulose based polymers such as nitrocellulose, primarily because cellulose based polymers provide good adhesion of the compositions to nails upon application. Although nitrocellulose is the preferred adhesive agent for use in nail polish compositions and it constitutes the “gold standard” of adhesive agents in nail polish compositions, the traditional nail compositions containing nitrocellulose are generally known for poor long wear characteristics. The use of low levels of nitrocellulose tends to result in the coated films being easily damaged. On the other hand, the use of high levels of nitrocellulose results in the nail polishes being too hard and inflexible. Further, nitrocellulose does not impart high gloss.
In the past, proposed solutions to improve adhesion and gloss included incorporating into compositions containing nitrocellulose high levels of plasticizers and replacing nitrocellulose with other alternative materials. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 6,939,551 relates to the use of nitrocellulose in the presence of butyl phthalimide isopropyl phthalimide, and U.S. Pat. No. 8,790,669 discloses the use of latex film formers instead of nitrocellulose.
Despite such attempts, there remains a need for nail compositions which adhere, are glossy and have long wear properties and applicators for applying such compositions to nails.